


Recuperate

by Samuraiter



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fix-It, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5689411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/pseuds/Samuraiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recovery requires the support of everyone closest to you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Recuperate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EvilMuffins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/gifts).



> Takes place a fair length of time after _Goodbye Despair_. Also: Thanks to my recipient for catching that this story inadvertently posted twice. I have deleted the extra copy. (AO3 had a weird episode during the original posting, and that was the unexpected outcome. My apologies.)

Returning to the Program after being removed from it always resulted in Hajime feeling sick to his stomach, perhaps because understanding the nature of it allowed him to see the unreality of the place, but he had learned to control that uneasiness, had learned to overcome it and focus on the objectives at hand after retrieving a back-up of Chiaki from the depths of the system. Her help made everything seem simple, and she always accompanied him back to the island, setting aside the fact that she, like most of their supposed class at the Academy, had been executed there by Monokuma.

But Chiaki had helped Hajime and the others discover that death in the Program need not be permanent, and that provided their reason for returning to the island.

One by one, they had unearthed the others inside the system, uncovering the means for reconnecting a consciousness to a body, practically recoding them from scratch, or at least from the back-up data that they could recover. That process had not been easy, and it had required first months, then years to follow to completion. They had retrieved several of their friends, but not all of them had been ready to return to reality.

And neither Hajime nor Chiaki had been ready for the feelings that the process of recovery had managed to create, not only between the two of them, but between the two of them and two of the people they had returned to the Program to save.

For Hajime, the catalyst had been Nagito, seated next to him on the beach. They had bonded from the beginning, despite everything that Nagito said and did during the sequence of events that followed, and Hajime had never lost the sense that Nagito looked upon him as the one person who had a chance of understanding his point of view. Unsurprising, then, that the Nagito he retrieved from the back-up data still had that bond in his thoughts, and that he had immediately offered to try and get back to that initial rapport, regardless of everything that had happened since then.

"I think it's almost time," Nagito said, hugging his knees and wiggling his toes as the surf licked at them. "A few more days in here, and I might be ready to come back." He seemed more tired than anything else. "It's a little scary, though, isn't it? I remember what you told me about Mahiru going into convulsions the first time she tried it."

"It was a close call," Chiaki admitted from the other side of Hajime, "but we were able to get her out on the second try. I can't promise perfect results every time." She seemed lost in thought for a second. "She's better now, but it took her a little while."

"I guess that's reassuring," Nagito said, sighing. "It took us all some time to get over just being brought back, after all. That memory of pain's always there somewhere, even if you've managed to code most of it out." He looked at Hajime. "Penny for your thoughts? You're usually a lot more talkative than this when you come to visit."

"It's just the two of you left," Hajime said, leaning back and resting his palms on the sand. "I know you're all right now, Nagito, but I'm still a little worried about Mikan." The Mikan in question lay curled up on a beach towel on the other side of Chiaki, dozing peacefully – quite unlike her normal sleep, full of nightmares and calling for Junko.

Chiaki replied, reaching down to Mikan and stroking her hair, "It's taken her the longest, but she's gotten much better. I think it'll be easier for her when she sees everybody outside again." She turned to look meaningfully at the other two. "But she needs the three of us most of all. She's the kind of person who ... fixates, for lack of a better word, and all three of us have helped her up from where she was." Lost in thought again, and she looked back down at Mikan. "And, quite frankly, now that she feels that way, I can't imagine her being any other way. The two of you understand that, too, right?"

"Yeah," Hajime said, "I do." And he took Chiaki by the hand. "But we'll still come back in here from time to time. It's good for her, and ... it's still the only way we can see you."

"You're just saying that because she's in her swimsuit," Nagito said drily.

"No, I mean it," Hajime rejoined, blushing, "even if ... that's kind of really a perk, yeah." They never spoke openly of everything they had done inside the simulation, and the others outside it had agreed not to bring it up if it caused no problems. "You really shouldn't tease me about that, you know. I come in here to see you, too."

"I know," Nagito said, reaching around Hajime to pat Chiaki on the back, "but I'm still obliged to give you a certain amount of grief about stuff like that. It's a 'me' thing."

"Boys," Chiaki scolded, "I thought we came here to have an honest discussion about bringing Nagito and Mikan back to the real world? If this is going to veer towards someone's cabin and waste a whole lot of time, then I'm going to be a little disappointed." She paused. "Only a little. I'm not saying it isn't something I enjoy."

"We know," Hajime and Nagito said together.

Next to Chiaki, Mikan stirred, opening one eye and yawning before sitting up and saying, "Is it time for breakfast yet? Or was there something else you all wanted to do?" They all looked at each other. Mikan, for all the worry they heaped upon her, had been the one to change their assorted friendships into one big relationship involving all four of them. "Or did you do something while I was asleep? If you did, that's really mean."

"I think it's time for breakfast," Hajime said. "Agreed, everybody?"

"Agreed," Chiaki and Nagito said as Mikan nodded her approval.

As they all stood up and headed back towards the resort, Hajime thought, Chiaki and Nagito taking each of his hands as Mikan walked slightly ahead of them, _I never expected it to turn out this way, but ... I hope this is something we can keep once everybody's out_. Chiaki squeezed his left hand, as if sensing his thought. _We'll have to keep coming back here, even if there are bad memories, but there are good ones, too, and we've built so many of them together since the day the first of us escaped_. It had been harrowing, and he still had nightmares about it, but they had pulled it off.

On his right, Nagito wondered aloud, "Eggs fried or scrambled today?" And that made Hajime chuckle because it was such an ordinary question, even if the world around them was only as real as the Program could make it.

 **END**.


End file.
